Salute to Service Winner Announced

In September we invited you to send us stories of the positive encounters or experiences you have with Harvest Land employees for our Salute to Service program. We asked you to share with us the instance of an employee going above and beyond, someone handling a difficult assignment with professionalism or an employee representing Harvest Land in an oustanding way.

Ask and you shall receive, indeed.

We received 78 nominations from Harvest Land customers and employees nominating their peers. This was an amazing response to a simple ask! But it sure made our job difficult. We closed nominations on November 8 and then asked our employee base to read through all nominations and choose their top three choices to win the 2017 Salute to Service Award.

At our cooperative Christmas party on December 1 the winner was announced. Today we want to share with you the winner:

The nomination, written and submitted by Harvest Land HR Manager, Luann Nichol:

Scott,

I know you challenged the employee group to tell you a story of a co-worker going above and beyond for a customer or of someone handling a difficult assignment or representing Harvest Land in a great way.

I would like to take a few minutes to talk about Kim Buttery. Kim is an employee going above and beyond to represent Harvest Land in a great way. Nearly one year ago, Kim was given the most devastating news any human being can be given. She was told she had cancer. I, having four older siblings that have battled cancer with one sibling losing his battle, understand the “mountain” Kim was going to have to climb and the battle she would be fighting over the next year and beyond.

Now a year later, Kim has completed her round of intense chemotherapy treatments and is finishing up her radiation treatments. Over the course of this past year, Kim has managed to utilize minimal sick time and vacation time. There were days Kim could have chosen to curl up in her blanket in bed and stay home and rightfully so. There were days she came in looking wary and tired, feeling sick, but she never complained or wanted anyone to feel sorry for her. She sat at her desk and worked diligently, answered phones, assisted customers and provided leadership for her team. Kim has been an inspiration to her family, her church family, her staff, her co-workers not only in Richmond but within all of Harvest Land’s business divisions and anyone in the community who knows her.

As the H.R. Manager at Harvest Land, Kim is the definition of a dedicated employee with a work ethic like none other. Kim cares about her staff, her fellow co-workers and the member customers of Harvest Land. Kim continues to battle this disease with dignity, grace and courage. The road ahead is still long and Kim knows that but just as she has over this last year, she will continue to trek ahead one step at a time until she is over that mountain. May God continue to bless Kim and her family as he has over this last year. He has certainly blessed Harvest Land and its members with Kim’s presence over the last forty one years. Thank you.

Luann Nichol

H.R. Manager

Kim received greater than 37% of the total votes from our employees.

Congratulations, Kim!

We’re proud to call you a colleague and friend to many.

Thank you for every single person (all 78 of you!) who contributed to this contest. The entries absolutely impressed us and frankly, made us quite proud to work at Harvest Land.

So much good came from one simple request for a story.

In the months ahead, we’ll be highlighting the other outstanding submissions from customers and employees in an effort to give you a better look at the people behind your local farmer-owned cooperative.